Short-Order Chef

This is obviously a rhetorical question and I am sure many of you can relate but WHY DO MY KIDS THINK THEY ARE HUNGRY ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!! I spend most of my day trying to come up with a variety of things for them to eat so they don't get bored and they also get a balanced diet. I am exhausted.

I swear most days I don't do anything but serve food. Don't get me wrong, I really try and limit what they eat and make sure they are good and hungry for dinner or lunch. I don't let them have sweets very often and even then they have to be earned for the most part. I usually don't serve snacks after 3:00 so that they will be hungry for dinner at around 5:30. However, I find it ironic that NO ONE is ever hungry at dinner time. I however could eat a hippopotamus even after a late lunch.

Yes, there is that old adage that kids actually have a better handle on their eating habits and we all should eat 6 small meals a day and not 3 large ones. But seriously, for my kids it is about 12.

Just after breakfast, before brunch even, everyone is starving. I get them a snack and tell them that is all they get until lunch. However, it seems like 3 seconds later and they are begging for more food. I am about to scream when I happen to glance over at the clock and it says 12:30. Okay, okay, maybe it is lunch time. I fix a nice plate full of wheat germ muffins, celery sticks and tofu cakes. I like to top it off with prune juice that I canned myself. Okay, just kidding but seriously I put out a plate of pepperoni, crackers, cheese and Craisins and maybe a pile of marshmallows to satisfy their sweet tooth and 10 minutes later after giggles and 2 cups of spilled milk, everyone runs off claiming they are full. I go to gather the plate and there is one cracker missing and the marshmallows are gone. What the? Seriously? You were starving 5 minutes ago and yet now you claim to be full?

This goes on throughout the day and then before I know it, it is time to fix dinner and the kids hover around waiting for food to be flung in their direction. Olivia NEVER eats dinner and resorts, instead to almost anything inedible such as, sidewalk chalk, dirt, sand and crayons. How old are you? Aren't you passed that stage? I have heard it means she has an iron deficiency but who wouldn't when you eat marshmallows and crayons?

What's worse is that they are always thirsty too!! I have fastened a little cup holder on the side of the fridge with dixie cups so they can get themselves a drink of water and that has helped dramatically but for the most part it is "can I have some juice?" "can I have some milk?" "mom, mom, mom, what can I have?"

Indy is the worst. He is always asking, "Can I have some ting to eat?" And I am not exaggerating when I say today he came up and asked me that very thing with a half-eaten graham cracker in his hand. True story!

Now that I am finished ranting, I am going to see what is in the fridge. I am kind of hungry.